_' Here he says, '_O friend,
strong in wealth for so much good, take my last counsel. In the name
of the Saviour, I charge you be true and tender to mankind._' He goes
on to bid me '_live and labor for the fallen, the neglected, the
suffering, and the poor_'; and finally ends by advising me to help upset
any, or all, institutions, laws, and so forth, that bear hardly on the
fag-ends of society; and tells me that what he calls 'a service to
humanity' is worth more to the doer than a service to anything else,
or than anything we can gain from the world. Ah, well! poor George."
"But isn't all that true, father?" said Netty; "it seems so."
"H'm," he murmured through his closed lips. Then with a vague smile,
folding up the letter, meanwhile, he said, "Wild words, Netty, wild
words. I've no objection to charity, judiciously given; but poor
George's notions are not mine. Every man for himself, is a good general
rule. Every man for humanity, as George has it, and in his acceptation
of the principle, would send us all to the almshouse pretty soon.
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